People

Al Gore has enlisted his old Harvard room mate, the actor
Tommy Lee Jones, to host a concert celebrating his award of the Nobel peace prize next month. Jones, who also went to high school in Texas with
George Bush's wife,
Laura, will be sharing duties with
Uma Thurman. The concert, on December 11, the day after Gore receives the prize, is due to be broadcast in 100 countries and will feature performers such as
Annie Lennox,
Alicia Keys and
Melissa Etheridge

Victory over the taxman for actor Saffron Burrows after the authorities backed down on an attempt to charge her VAT on her earnings for Perfect Creature, shot entirely in New Zealand. In what seems to have been a try-on, since they hadn't attempted something similar before, the Revenue demanded £18,000. En route from Heathrow to Hollywood, Burrows emailed Equity, which fought her case, saying: "That is terrific news. It couldn't have come at a better time." Other actors should also benefit, with the Revenue having to refund £150,000 in all.

Marie Osmond, of the eponymous singing group, has said that the Bible - rather than the Book of Mormon - helped her to come to terms with the death of her father, George, who died in Utah at the age of 90 last week. It encouraged her to return to compete in the US version of Strictly Come Dancing. Opening the Good Book at Ecclesiastes, she relates: "It said, there's a time to mourn and a time to dance and I felt like it was almost from my dad." Sadly, the prophets can only get you so far: she came last.

John Hegley, pictured, the performance poet, is returning to the Battersea Arts Centre this Christmas with his latest batch of animal poems and a promise to spontaneously emote verse on creatures suggested by the audience in the cabaret bar. "He's a fairly silly and unpredictable performer," says a theatre spokesman. "But his poems have unexpected depth."

Wayne Rooney is having private tuition in order to take his maths and English GCSEs. Should help him with future volumes of his autobiography.